Enlightenment is not about becoming something special, but about realizing what we already are.

Compassion is a verb.

The only thing that we truly have control over is our attitude toward experience.

In meditation, we are continuously discovering who and what we are.

Panic, anxiety, and stress are not obstacles to the practice. They are the path to wisdom and compassion.

Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the "support," of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached.

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.

Meditation is not about achieving anything. It's about letting go of everything.

Nothing can harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.

Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

The deepest happiness comes from having an enduring sense of purpose, one that gives our lives meaning beyond the endless pursuit of pleasure and success.

Like a dream, like an illusion, like a city of gandharvas, that's how birth, and that's how living, that's how dying are taught to be.

Altruism is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the survival of humanity.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

The cultivation of loving-kindness is the thread that runs through all Buddhist teachings.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

The practice of Buddhism is fundamentally a practice of expanding our happiness and diminishing our suffering.

The object of meditation and the mind which knows it must be noted as they occur. If they are not noted, desire arises and disturbs concentration.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

The lamp of wisdom burns constantly, illuminating the nature of mind.

The difference between being caught in thoughts and being mindful of thoughts is like the difference between being in a movie and watching a movie.

Each moment of mindfulness is a moment of purification.

If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

The menu is not the meal.

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

The supreme path is not to fabricate anything. The supreme meditation is not to be distracted.

Since all things are empty of inherent existence, anything is possible. If things had inherent existence, nothing would be possible.

The movement of love is what creates the beauty in our lives.